Wednesday, September 04, 2013

Segregation - beyond "racism"

I lived in the South for a while, but never noticed any of these
signs of segregation.

What is happening now? The idea of abolishing any form of
segregation is almost a mania. In California, it seems that even
the idea of segregation of public bathrooms for boys and girls is
now passé, even illegal. Not that I find anything particularly
objectionable about sharing bathrooms. The house I grew up in had
bathrooms that were shared - we took turns. But the rationale for this idea in California does not appeal to my own sensibilities.

In my thinking, the problem today is the mistake of confusing form
with substance. Our contemporary culture makes us slaves to the
letter of the law. "For the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." (2 Cor
3:6) The letter of the law prohibits segregation, whether it
be on the basis of race, sex, age, or what have you. But real
segregation has its roots in personal enmity, and that dwells in our
hearts and in our minds.